So in case you are all wondering... this is what is called a "Pinterest fail"! I found this great pin of a baby painting mess free with some plastic wrap around a baking sheet with some paper and paint globs for exploration.  Mess free they said! My 8 month old took one look at that nonsense and said... "I have a better idea!"!

​I will not lie. We made a big mess but he had so much fun that it was worth it. I have the beautiful artwork hanging on my fridge as as memory and I promise the Pinterest original idea was not near as great!

He mixed colors, giggled as he fell from the slippy wet paint, worked to control his body parts to make his master piece! I love it!

Fascinated is an understatement! This kid was like a little kitten playing with the moving light- giggling, yelling, and trying so hard to catch the moving target! I had a larger flashlight for me and a small plastic light that was easy for him to handle. I set up some shatter proof mirrors and let him explore the light, shadows and reflections.   I hid the small flashlight under a small sheep skin and watched him "paw" at it as I moved it around! What makes dark? What makes light? Look at that shadow! Why can't I grab it? These simple activities are stepping stones for helping Parker understand the world around him! Physics for a 7 month old!!!

This sudsy activity was great entertainment and so easy to clean up! I created the soapy bubbles with about a 3/4 cup of water and a few squirts of Parker's tear free bath soap. I combined the water and soap with my kitchen mixer on high for about 3 minutes and... TADA! We had a big pan of suds!  Once you make the bubbles, there is very little water remaining so clean up is simple. No clothing change was required!  We added some new bath toys to discover in the bubbles; explored the suds on our hands, feet, the floor, our mouth (of course!); and threw it in the air!

This activity was inspired by one of Parker's favorite Sesame Street books: " Bubbles Bubbles!"

Happy Baby=Happy Mamma!

,"Hey Mom! What is that!?!?"  I love how curious babies are! Parker, along with most every other baby I know,  is incredibly interested to touch and play with things are are not toys! While this leads to great frustration for both he and I over the many objects I am still try to learn to child proof (because they are dangerous), it is so fun to watch him discover newness in the world around him.

This activity turned out to be much messier than I planned! I secured green construction paper on a baking sheet and covered the paper with white sugar. Sugar has a interesting texture- similar to sand in many ways- yet sticky and sweet tasting!  I taped the green construction paper underneath for the purpose of contrast so he could see the color as he drew in the sugar. Of course he tasted the sugar but did not eat more than a lick or two as it was far to sweet for his liking! He spent a good amount of time sitting still and examining the small bits of sugar on his fingers and rubbing them together curious at their sticky feel.

This did turn into a full body experience which is why it became far messier than I envisioned. If I was to do it again, I would do it right before bath time as we had stick body parts for the rest of the day regardless of how many times I attempted clean him off. Also, we had sugar all over our hard wood floor but truthfully that was much easier to clean up than the sticky baby! It's worth the mess!

Happy Baby= Happy Mamma!